EASTER SEALS MIDWEST

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Sleep Schedule

Yesterday I mentioned that I slept a long time and that I was in bed at 7:30. This happened again last night and has always been something I wish I could do every night because I feel, well, more alive.

What got me on this schedule was last week's fated experience with jury duty. I wanted to have no chance at over sleeping so I went to bed as early as possible. Since then the early bed time has stuck and sleeping isn't an issue.

As I think back on my sleeping issues over the course of my life I have always noticed that I feel better when I go to bed early and get up early. It is a hard schedule to keep and every time I am on this schedule it only takes one evening of staying up late (i.e. 9 when I am on this schedule) to knock the schedule off its tracks. Once it is knocked off getting back on is difficult and then there will be no order on my sleep times. One evening it may be 9, the next it may be 1AM..

I also know I dream more on this schedule. The past three nights I have had dreams of snow, or lack thereof and dreams of juries; lots and lots of juries.

The first time I noticed the feeling of this sleep schedule was in 2003 when I went to my aunt's place for 2 weeks. I quickly adjusted my sleep schedule to her's and it felt great. I told Emily that I was going to keep this schedule when I got home, but she then said, "When am I going to see you as I work until 9." That being so I started my ways as a night owl.

After my concussion in 2005, and then again in 2007, I had massive issues with sleeping. It was nothing for me to be up for 24 hours, and other nights I would not get to sleep until the sun broke over the horizon for dawn. I would still sleep 9-12 hours, but I always felt as if there was a fog around me. Thoughts were slower and emotions were more erratic. I find this interesting because I did get the same hours of sleep, but the feeling between those hours and the hours I am getting now are the difference of, and I can't help but to use this line. night and day.

One other thing about the post-concussion time was that I had trouble going to sleep, but I also had trouble waking up. I still have trouble waking up most mornings unless I am on the schedule I am right now. For now I will enjoy these nights because it will only take one night to throw this bliss off. One night of staying up and this routine will be derailed.

2 comments:

Sounds like you have identified a sleep schedule that your body likes - going to bed early and getting up early. I feel better when I am in bed by 10 and get up at 7. No one else in my house likes that schedule, so they don't follow it and we see each other in passing through the day.

Oh sleeping schedules... I wish I could keep those, but with my chronic fatigue and now having no education and/or job... I just can't seem to stick with a schedule. Sometimes I try with an alarm clock, but then I get so tired I fall asleep during the day, making me unable to sleep at night. At the moment I've kind of come to accept my nightly hours, which is healthwise very bad, but I have no idea how to fix it...

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